Clinton James MOLLER

Death Of Clinton James Moller

DEATH OF CLINTON JAMES MOLLER
Mr NEILLY: My question without notice is addressed to the Minister for Corrective Services, and Minister for Emergency Services. Would the Minister advise what information he has about the prison classification of former police officer Clinton James Moller?

Mr DEBUS: I am sure that honourable members understand the shock, grief and disbelief that the Moller family is experiencing at losing a family member under the circumstances they have heard of in recent days. A coronial inquest will be held, so I am constrained in what I can say publicly about the circumstances of Mr Moller’s death. But I am gravely concerned by allegations by inmate Moller‘s solicitor, Mr Ken Madden, who this morning told radio 2BL:

A lot of pressure had come from somewhere very high up to keep him – that is, Mr Moller at Long Bay.

That is a grave allegation. I am advised by the Department of Corrective Services that the facts are as follows. Mr Moller was extradited from New Zealand in August last year and held at the Long Bay Correctional Centre. He applied for bail before Justice John Dowd, who in refusing bail stated that Moller should “be placed in such protection either in the Special Purposes Unit at Long Bay or Berrima or such other similar protection as can be provided for him”. As a result, Mr Moller was placed in strict protection – a classification to protect him from other inmates. On Friday, 15 November 1996, Mr Moller was convicted of contempt of the royal commission. On 21 November the Long Bay classification committee met to assess Mr Moller‘s classification rating. Four members of the committee recommended that Mr Moller be sent to the Berrima Correctional Centre. However the chairman of the committee and the manager of classification dissented.

The matter was then sent, as departmental operating procedures required, to the director of classification for adjudication – as is always the case when that committee cannot agree on a recommendation. The director considered several factors before allocating Mr Moller an A2 classification, a classification that ensured that he would be held in a high security prison and therefore not in Berrima. The factors included the fact that Mr Moller had been the subject of an extensive international search by police and an extradition order; that he was facing serious charges of supplying commercial quantities of amphetamines and ecstasy; and, most pertinently, that on 5 October 1996 a scheduled visitor to Mr Moller had been apprehended at Long Bay carrying amphetamines. During a search of the visitor’s handbag two plastic resealable bags containing amphetamines weighing 1.7 grams were found. The visitor was interviewed by police and charged with possessing a prohibited drug.

On 26 November Mr Moller‘s solicitors, Walter Madden Jenkins, wrote to me and my department requesting information on his classification. The solicitors were informed of the decision of the director of classification. But, most importantly, the solicitors also wrote to the Ombudsman raising the issue of Mr Moller‘s classification. After examining the classification process and interviewing Mr Moller the Ombudsman wrote to his solicitors advising that she was satisfied that the department was not unreasonable in its refusal to transfer the inmate to Berrima. The department informed me that last week Mr Moller again requested to be moved to Berrima. Instead, and in accordance with the principles I have described, he was moved to the strict protection unit at Parklea prison on 11 April. The circumstances surrounding his death on Saturday, 12 April, will, as I have said, be the subject of a coronial inquiry.

http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LA19970415010

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Moller’s Jail Death Likely An Accident

Illawarra Mercury

Thursday December 18, 1997

Former police officer Clinton Moller may have accidentally killed himself when he tied a skipping rope around his neck and hanged himself in his prison cell, a coroner found yesterday.

Coroner Derrick Hand said Moller‘s actions may have only been an attempt to get the attention of prison authorities and be moved to another prison.

The 27-year-old former Bondi police officer was found dead in his cell in Parklea prison’s protective wing, wearing only his underpants and with a jumper tied around his neck, on April 12 this year.

Moller was serving an eight-month jail sentence for contempt of the Police Royal Commission after he failed to appear before it and fled to New Zealand. He was also awaiting trial on drug charges. Mr Hand said there was no evidence Moller had suicidal tendencies and in fact evidence showed he had a positive attitude he would successfully defend the drug charges.

http://www.skippingrope.com.au/skipping-rope-articles/1997/12/18/mollers-jail-death-likely-an-accident/

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